Patti Smith

**** Patti Smith, Dream of Life (Arista): On first hearing Dream of Life, someone suggested ''Rebels should stay rebels.'' The problem is, 41-year-old rebels look rather ridiculous. Case in point, Mick Jagger, who's still doing the same shtick he did 20 years ago.Patti Smith is a mother now, and her visions are less apocalyptic than when she was making such go-for-the-jugular albums as Horses, Radio Ethiopia and Easter. But it's a natural artistic progression for Smith. By 1979, when she released Wave, there were already mutterings that she'd ''gone commercial,'' which primarily meant melodicism was playing a greater role in her work.

Why a poet whose visceral words can burn paper with fear, love and loathing would waste her time playing Nirvana tunes is anybody's guess. Then again, Dylan did cover albums. So start with this: Because the sage rage ever-present in Smith's ragged voice is here, these tunes from rock's standard canon bristle. At 60, Patti's no punk kid. But the nervy gulps and yelps that made "Horses" and "Easter" twin towers of emotional tumult are still part of Smith's open-throated vocal language -- even when she is reservedly taking on a spare, sinister version of Hendrix's "Are You Experienced?"

PARIS -- U.S. punk rocker Patti Smith received one of France's top cultural honors Sunday. Smith, 58, was presented with the insignia of Commander of the Order of the Arts and Letters. The Culture Ministry noted Smith's appreciation for 19th-century French poet Arthur Rimbaud and praised her as "one of the most influential artists in women's rock 'n' roll."

PARIS -- U.S. punk rocker Patti Smith received one of France's top cultural honors Sunday. Smith, 58, was presented with the insignia of Commander of the Order of the Arts and Letters. The Culture Ministry noted Smith's appreciation for 19th-century French poet Arthur Rimbaud and praised her as "one of the most influential artists in women's rock 'n' roll."

``Forget the '60s,'' punk/poet icon Patti Smith said in an interview at the recent South by Southwest conference in Austin, Tex., ``and the '70s and the '80s and the '90s. We're living in the 21st century. There's work to be done and fun to be had.'' The next day she was onstage at Austin's Waterloo Park, hollering, ``People, the time is now! Wake up! Wake up!'' as her amazing, two-hour-plus show crashed to a close in a howl of feedback and shredded guitar strings. To be a longtime fan was to leave the show with a sense of profound happiness - and relief.

Kenneth and Donna Bates, Kewanee, Ill., announce the engagement of their daughter, Laurie, Orlando, to Robert M. Smith, Orlando, son of Christopher and Patti Smith, Orlando. The wedding is July 23. She graduated from Weathersfield High School, Kewanee, Ill., and from Southeastern Academy, Kissimmee. He graduated from Colonial High School, Orlando, and attended Valencia Community College, Orlando.

Smith, a guitarist for the rock band the MC5, died on Friday at St. John's Hospital in Detroit. He was 44 and lived in St. Clair Shores, a suburb of Detroit. The cause was heart failure, said his wife, Patti Smith, a poet and musician. Smith began playing guitar when he was 12, performing in a number of Detroit bands before joining the MC5 in the mid-1960s. The band helped create the Detroit sound, a high-powered, low-fidelity precursor to heavy metal and punk rock. Smith went on to lead his own group, Sonic's Rendezvous Band, with former members of other Detroit groups such as the Stooges.

AIDS CONCERT. Some of the biggest names in the music industry turned out Saturday night for a benefit concert billed as the single largest fund-raising event for AIDS. The ''That's What Friends Are For'' concert at Radio City Music Hall was expected to raise between $2 million and $3 million. Carly Simon, Whitney Houston, Air Supply, the Eurythmics, Dionne Warwick, Jermaine Jackson, Daryl Hall & John Oates, Patti Smith, Milli Vanilli and Kenny G. among the acts that donated their time and talent.

Patti Smith, Trampin' (Columbia): Patti Smith may have matured from rock's rebel poet into a patron saint of all dissident music, but she still clings tenaciously to values she embodied from the beginning. For her, rock remains the bearer of a utopian vision, an engine of inspiration, a rallying cry for community and action. Her first album in four years opens with "Jubilee," a measured stomp in which Smith, sporting an almost Appalachian twang, sounds the alarm about the clouds of oppression gathering against the spirit of love and liberty.

``Forget the '60s,'' punk/poet icon Patti Smith said in an interview at the recent South by Southwest conference in Austin, Tex., ``and the '70s and the '80s and the '90s. We're living in the 21st century. There's work to be done and fun to be had.'' The next day she was onstage at Austin's Waterloo Park, hollering, ``People, the time is now! Wake up! Wake up!'' as her amazing, two-hour-plus show crashed to a close in a howl of feedback and shredded guitar strings. To be a longtime fan was to leave the show with a sense of profound happiness - and relief.

Hot stuff from the Black Crowes, Blues Traveler and Prince, plus several star-studded soundtrack albums, top July's album release list.Out this week: Blues Traveler shows off its concert jammin' style on the double disc Live From the Fall (A&M), in cluding a version of John Lennon's ''Imagine.''Also this week: De La Soul's Stakes Is High (Tommy Boy); the soundtrack of Phenomenon (Reprise) with new cuts by Eric Clapton and Peter Gabriel; the dramatic soundtrack to the space-invaders flick Independence Day (RCA)

June album releases are busting out all over with sets from Me'Shell NdegeOcello, Lyle Lovett, Metallica, Screaming Trees, Jimmy Buffett, Patti Smith, Ice-T, Linda Ronstadt and others.Out this weekJimmy Buffett rustles those light tropical rhythms and sage advice on Banana Wind (MCA).Bryan Adams prays for eternal youth on 18 Til I Die (A&M). Trendsetting rock poet Patti Smith's first new set in a decade is Gone Again (Arista). Gloria Estefan dishes a collection of pop originals, Destiny (Epic)

How did a relatively unknown singer manage to coax three of the hottest record producers in the known world to work on her debut album?That's the first question one has to ask singer-songwriter-pianist Beth Hart, whose Immortal album credits David Foster (Celine Dion), Hugh Padgham (Melissa Etheridge, Sting) and Mike Clink (Guns N' Roses) as producers.The answer lies partly in the trio of labels that came together to put the Hart project together. The 143 Records imprint belongs to Foster, whose staff engineer introduced him to Hart.

Smith, a guitarist for the rock band the MC5, died on Friday at St. John's Hospital in Detroit. He was 44 and lived in St. Clair Shores, a suburb of Detroit. The cause was heart failure, said his wife, Patti Smith, a poet and musician. Smith began playing guitar when he was 12, performing in a number of Detroit bands before joining the MC5 in the mid-1960s. The band helped create the Detroit sound, a high-powered, low-fidelity precursor to heavy metal and punk rock. Smith went on to lead his own group, Sonic's Rendezvous Band, with former members of other Detroit groups such as the Stooges.

Patti Smith, Trampin' (Columbia): Patti Smith may have matured from rock's rebel poet into a patron saint of all dissident music, but she still clings tenaciously to values she embodied from the beginning. For her, rock remains the bearer of a utopian vision, an engine of inspiration, a rallying cry for community and action. Her first album in four years opens with "Jubilee," a measured stomp in which Smith, sporting an almost Appalachian twang, sounds the alarm about the clouds of oppression gathering against the spirit of love and liberty.

Hot stuff from the Black Crowes, Blues Traveler and Prince, plus several star-studded soundtrack albums, top July's album release list.Out this week: Blues Traveler shows off its concert jammin' style on the double disc Live From the Fall (A&M), in cluding a version of John Lennon's ''Imagine.''Also this week: De La Soul's Stakes Is High (Tommy Boy); the soundtrack of Phenomenon (Reprise) with new cuts by Eric Clapton and Peter Gabriel; the dramatic soundtrack to the space-invaders flick Independence Day (RCA)

Kenneth and Donna Bates, Kewanee, Ill., announce the engagement of their daughter, Laurie, Orlando, to Robert M. Smith, Orlando, son of Christopher and Patti Smith, Orlando. The wedding is July 23. She graduated from Weathersfield High School, Kewanee, Ill., and from Southeastern Academy, Kissimmee. He graduated from Colonial High School, Orlando, and attended Valencia Community College, Orlando.